Nightwing/Dick Grayson, Batman/Bruce Wayne, and Oracle/Barbara Gordon belong to DC Comics/Time Warner.
Tony Newman, Doug Phillips, and Ann MacGregor belong to Irwin Allen Productions.
I am using them without permission, however I have not and don't expect to make money from this.
Gaby, Rick, Norman, and any others you don't recognize are mine.
Rated PG-13 : Crude language; violence; sexual references.
Reviews are appreciated, please take a moment to leave one.
Nightwing followed the others as they picked their way through corridors and hallways marked with damage and littered with the debris of the pitched battle that had been waged here, fortunately destroyed cyclobots instead of bodies. After a few turns, they left the destruction behind, and soon entered a large, rather dark office. They found chairs as Collins took a seat behind the desk.
"We have a tape from the surveillance camera in that lab," he announced. Miller moved to a small television and VCR which had been left set up, holding a videocassette. "I'll have to find the right place..."
He inserted the tape and began to fast forward. They all watched as various people, most of them in lab coats, darted around the interior of a large laboratory in fast motion. Then it slowed to normal speed as four people Nightwing recognized walked in.
"My son, Wes. The Red Ranger," Collins said softly. "Eric Myers, the other commander of the Silver Guardians, and the Quantum Ranger. Jen Scotts, my son's fiancée, a police detective -- Jimmy's partner -- and the Pink Ranger. Gabriella Butler -- Gaby -- our computer security manager and Eric's girlfriend." The four began to talk to a tall, slender man and, after a moment, a younger man who seemed to interrupt them. "Dr. Michael Zaskin, head of my science department. Rick Quinn, one of the junior scientific staff, and Lieutenant Quinn's son."
As the tape ran on, they spoke for a while. Then Eric raised a hand to his ear. The others looked at him in apparent alarm. Wes, Eric, and Jen ran out. The scientists milled about, seeming frightened, for a few minutes. Gaby started out, then turned back, looking uncertain.
Nightwing leaned forward as the tape showed the Guardians retreating into the room, the Rangers running in, the cyclobots attacking. The battle was fast and furious. He watched Rick doing something to a strange looking machine, watched as a whirl of lights and darkness seemed to materialize around the small group of four people, blotting them out of existence. Watched a second swirl appear and sweep over the two remaining Rangers. Watched as the mystery man and his cyclobots looted the laboratory and used one of the computer terminals.
Nightwing exhaled as the tape ended, realizing he had been holding his breath. "What the hell was that?" he demanded. He watched Collins and Miller exchange a glance, their expressions reluctant. "If you have any idea how they disappeared -- I can't help if you don't tell me what's going on," he added.
"That was a timehole," Collins said. "Or that's what it looked like."
"A... timehole?"
"Yes. Time travel." He sighed. "Jen is from the future. All the Ranger stuff is. So were the mutants who were here a couple of years ago."
Nightwing stared at him for a moment. Time travel. It should be unbelievable. And yet -- he had just seen six people vanish into thin air. He had fought robots more sophisticated than anything he had ever heard of before. Add to that the mutants that had attacked Silver Hills -- the Ranger powers... It wasn't a complete surprise.
"All right," he said. "I guess I suspected something like this. Power Rangers... the suits and the weapons, and Jen said something when I was here last night." He paused for a breath. "Just makes the situation more urgent. What was a timehole doing in your laboratory?"
"I don't know. None of our scientists are working on time travel, that I know of. It looked like the machine was Rick's. And now he's gone."
"Yeah." Nightwing sat forward, his thoughts returning to the immediate problem. "They're certainly the same robots Eric and I ran into. And seeing this… the whole thing strikes me even more as an inside job. That guy knew exactly where he was going, what he was after. Is there anyone you can think of..."
"No. I have enemies, but no one I know of in Bio-Lab. No one who would want to do something like this."
"We have to find out what he did to that computer, too."
"Yes. Unfortunately, our computer security person is gone, too." His face tightened again. "I'll get our network people on it."
"The first thing we have to do is try to get that machine back. Maybe it'll give us a way to find Eric and the others," Nightwing added. As he got up he looked again at Collins, seeing his face tight with tension. "Try not to worry. With all of us working together -- we'll find them if anyone can. Now, if someone can show me that lab..."
"I will." Miller got up and led him out, into a corridor filled with people who stared curiously as they walked. In a few minutes they were outside the open doors of the large laboratory that Nightwing recognized from the tape, when his cell phone rang.
"Excuse me..." He moved away from Miller, pulled the phone out of his glove cuff and glanced around before answering. "Yes."
"Dick?" Her voice held just a shade of anxiety, with relief in it too.
"Hi. Hold on a minute." Another quick look around showed him a door leading outside. He headed away from the building, down a short flight of steps. There were still quite a few police and Guardians around, but he found a spot away from any of them.
"Okay, Babs," he said when he felt safe from overhearing ears.
"Dick!" There was warmth in her tone now. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah. I guess you know what happened."
"Yes, I was worried. It's good to hear your voice."
"Yours too."
"What was it?"
"Another attack by those robots I told you about. And their leader. Eric, the two other Rangers, and three other people have disappeared." He paused, realizing he had already made a decision. "I'm going to stay on here. I have to help out, try to find them."
"You have to?" There was a protest in her voice.
"Babs…"
"I know, you can't just walk away. It's in your nature." He heard sharp disappointment in her tone, and concern.
"Yours too." Unbidden, the image of Barbara in her Batgirl costume rose in his mind. He closed his eyes against it. She had been so confident, so quick, her body straight and strong…
"Those days are gone." There was only a fine tracery of sadness under her words.
"No, they're not. You do as much as Oracle as Bruce and I do." Instinctively he glanced around. Protecting their secrets was such an ingrained habit, even though he knew their conversation was secure and encrypted end-to-end, he still felt uneasy mentioning any of their other identities.
"The woman behind the men, right?" She laughed lightly.
"Something like that." He was relieved to hear her tone brighten.
"I wish I could come out there and really help you."
"You could come if you want. I'd love to see you. But…" He knew she wouldn't come. It was hard for her to travel, and she wasn't really comfortable anywhere but at home. Guilt twinged at him. He had so little time to spend with her, and he had chosen to go on this vacation alone…
"But you wouldn't have time to be with me. And I'm more use to you here, as Oracle, if you need information."
"Well, yeah."
"Dick…" He heard her hesitate. "Any idea when you'll be home?"
"'Fraid not. You know how it is."
"Yes, I know." Again that disappointment in her voice touched him.
"Babs, baby, you know I'd be there tomorrow if I could. Believe me, I miss you. But I can't just leave when these people need me."
"I understand." She sounded resigned. "Just let me know if I can help."
"Of course. Look, I'd better go."
"Okay. Keep in touch."
He lowered his voice. "I love you. See you soon."
"Not soon enough. And I love you too."
Jen looked around at their makeshift refuge, wiping her nose for about the hundredth time. They had found a small cave under an overhang, not deep, but enough to shelter them from rain. The opening was high on a steep slope, forcing them to climb to get to it, but giving them some protection from large predatory animals.
"Just incredible," Zaskin said again. She sighed in annoyance as he went on, talking with Rick and Gaby as they looked out over the forest. "Look up there!"
"Are those pterodactyls?" Gaby asked.
"Yeah!" Rick answered. "Look at the size of those things!"
"Looks like Quetzalcoatlus," Zaskin said. "I'm sure we're in the late Cretaceous. Wonder if we'll see a Tyrannosaurus Rex? They lived at this time."
"I hope not. At least not up close," Gaby muttered.
"Of course there were a lot of other predatory species."
"Wonderful." Gaby turned away from the cave entrance and walked inside. "Jen," she said, sitting down beside her. "I... do you think Eric and Wes are all right?"
The question she had been trying not to worry about. "I think so."
"There were so many of those cyclobots..."
"I know." Jen was silent for a moment, biting her lips. "They're pretty tough. Both great fighters. We were beating the cyclobots. I'm sure they're okay."
Gaby gave her a quick glance and then looked down at the dirt floor. "We're going to need more food, aren't we?" she went on after a pause.
"I hope we won't be here long enough to have to worry about that."
They had done some exploring while searching for shelter, and collected various nuts, seeds, a few figs, and even stolen some unguarded dinosaur eggs. It was enough for the night, at least. There was a small stream nearby, which would supply them with water. And they had picked up wood for a fire. All of this while trying to keep Zaskin and Rick from wandering off to look more closely at whatever caught their eye.
"Do you think anyone will come after us?" Gaby asked, rather plaintively.
Jen sighed. "I hope so."
"But… we could be stuck here, couldn't we? Forever."
She forced a smile. "Don't talk like that. In my time, they monitor the timestream. They'll be looking for interference, and they'll correct it. Find us, and bring us back."
"If Rick invented that time machine himself, that wouldn't be interference, would it? And there wouldn't be anything to correct."
Sometimes Gaby was too smart for her own good, Jen thought. "Time travel wasn't invented for another hundred years. Something's gone wrong, there's been some kind of interference, no matter what Rick says." She stood up. "And it's time to get some answers."
A look at the cave mouth showed that the two men had disappeared. With a curse she walked to it and looked out. They were several yards away from the foot of the slope, Zaskin slowly approaching an animal, Rick right behind him. It was a dinosaur, about seven feet high, walking upright, with a heavy tail held out behind it, short arms, clawed hands and feet, and a billed, duck-like head. It was eating leaves from a tree, and watching Zaskin as he came closer.
"What are they doing?" she hissed.
"You know scientists," Gaby said, her voice low and tense. "They just can't resist."
"Stay here." Jen scrambled down the slope as quietly as she could, edged closer and called in a low voice, "Dr. Zaskin. Rick. Just back up slowly."
They glanced at her. Zaskin smiled and waved her back. "Don't worry!" he called in a low voice. "It's a duck-billed dinosaur. Not sure what species. Harmless."
"With those claws? Don't count on it. Come on back."
"I just want to get a closer look. The skin texture is…" He stopped talking as the creature suddenly turned. It took a few steps closer and raised its arms, spreading its claws.
"Run!" Jen shouted. Zaskin backed away uncertainly. Rick started for him. Jen raised her morpher and pressed the trigger button. Light blazed around her for a moment, transforming her into the Pink Ranger, already running forward, and just in time. The dinosaur was charging, no longer looking even remotely harmless, claws reaching.
Zaskin ran, and Rick darted in, waving his arms. He distracted the animal, then gasped and ran for his own life as it came after him. Jen summoned her blaster and fired at it just as it swiped at him, catching the sleeve of his lab coat. The shot struck, the dinosaur stopped and whirled on her, amazingly fast.
It came at her. Jen jumped into the air in mid-run and landed a kick to its chest, but it was far heavier than a human and was barely staggered. She landed on her feet, backed away, and fired at it again. The creature roared in pain, swung a clawed hand at her, and then turned and fled. In an instant it was gone.
"Damn!" Jen sagged with reaction, taking a few moments before inspecting herself. She and her suit were uninjured. "Are you okay?" she called to Rick.
"Yeah, I think so." His voice was shaking. "Got my lab coat, but just missed me."
Even Zaskin looked properly frightened. "I thought it was herbivorous. It was eating those plants," he said.
"I told you some of the duck-bills were omnivorous. Jen's right, all you had to do was look at those claws," Rick retorted.
"I don't care how curious you guys are! And I don't care about dinosaur eating habits! From now on, we stay together, and we assume anything we see that's bigger than a mouse is potentially dangerous, and we stay away from it! Is that clear?" Jen said, loudly.
"Yes, ma'am." They both nodded.
"It was that way. Wasn't it?"
Eric sighed. "I don't know. It was two years ago. We were running away from a forty-foot dinosaur. Sorry if I don't remember the directions!"
"No reason to get mad." Wes sounded irritated.
Eric knew he did too. They were both tired, hot, frustrated, worried about Jen and Gaby, afraid for themselves. After several hours of waiting, they had given up on immediate rescue and decided to find the cave where Eric had hidden from a Tyrannosaurus during their first visit to this time period. It had been a long climb up to the plateau where Eric thought it was, but luckily they had not encountered anything more dangerous than a dinosaur roughly the size of an elephant, covered with bony plates and spikes, calmly munching on ferns.
"Sorry," he muttered. "I think that's the right way. Let's go."
They walked again, trudging through trees and ferns, sweating in the humid warmth. Luckily the sun was beginning to set. He wondered if it would get cold at night. Probably not, with all this vegetation to hold the heat… At least they had seen food along the way, nuts, seeds, and some fruit. Not exactly a feast, but it would keep them alive, if necessary.
"Eric…" Wes's hand was on his arm, holding him back.
"I see it." There was a dinosaur in their path, standing among the trees, so still it was almost invisible. It was relatively small, only maybe five feet tall, but probably weighed as much as a man. It was a pale yellow-brown with irregular dark spots, upright on two powerful legs, and had arms ending with dangerous-looking clawed fingers. Even larger claws were on its toes. The head was mostly long, large jaws, with very sharp-looking teeth visible as it turned its head to the side and opened its mouth slightly, watching them with alert and predatory eyes.
"I think it's time to morph," Wes said softly.
"I think you're right."
They both raised their arms. Just as the dinosaur started for them with startling speed, Wes pressed the button and Eric shouted. The light of transformation flashed, stopping the beast, but only for a moment. It hesitated when it reached them, circling them cautiously. Eric already had his blaster out.
"Don't kill it."
"I don't intend to. Just discourage it a little, if it tries to take a bite."
The creature stopped, cocking its head, its motions reminding Eric disturbingly of his pet birds. Then it raised its nose and called, a strange, trilling whistle. It took a few more steps and called again.
"What's it doing?" Wes asked.
"Don't know. But I don't like it."
"Uh-oh. I think it was calling its friends."
Suddenly he saw them, everywhere, coming out of the trees with those quick bird-like steps. They were surrounded. He saw Wes summon his own blaster. And then the attack began.
In a nightmarish way, it was like being attacked by the cyclobots again. There were dozens of them, and they seemed fearless. He and Wes quickly ran up the power settings for their blasters; the dinosaurs were very resistant, what would kill a man barely stunned them.
And they were getting closer, Eric staggered as a clawed arm swung, hooking his shoulder, knocking him off balance. Another dinosaur caught him, trying to pierce through the suit with its claws, then biting him, teeth grating on his helmet. With a cry of disgust and primal fear, he struck out, a kick catching it in the neck. The next instant he was falling to the ground. Feet armed with huge, curved claws came at him.
Rolling to his back, he fired upwards, aiming as best he could. When they fell back he struggled to his feet. Wes was a few feet away, thrusting a fist at a reptilian head. But they were fast, it dodged and came at him again. He dropped it with a blast at short range.
Eric tried to join him, blasting a path in his direction, seeing Wes turn to face him. But more of the creatures cut him off, clawed fingers swiped, knocking him back, one of them kicked at his legs, the suit protecting him from the claws, but he lost his balance and fell, trying to shield himself as they struck again and again, darting in and then away when he fired at them.
Then jaws grabbed him, lifting him up, and he looked around and saw that the dinosaur that had him was big, bigger than any of the others, and strong; he could feel that the suit was weakening, could feel the crushing pressure. Instinctively he hit at the dinosaur's head with the Defender, unable to aim as it shook him like a rag doll.
A beam struck the creature's head, sparking over it. Wes, a glance told him. It squealed and shook him harder. Another beam, but this time it missed and hit him, sending a sharp jolt of pain through him. A third shot struck home, the dinosaur screamed, tossed its head, and sent him flying an impossible distance, to end crashing into a tree.
He tumbled to the ground, felt the sickening electric-shock sensation as he demorphed back into his uniform, and lay there helpless, unable to move. Dimly he heard Wes shout his name, heard more blaster shots. Shapes were moving, as he managed to raise his head, another monster, coming after him…
Claws ripped across his chest, pulling an involuntary cry of pain from his throat. He threw up an arm, and then screamed as jaws closed on it, and teeth sank in. He was pulled up, then dropped, and someone was there, in front of him, whipping a tree branch into the dinosaur's head, driving it back for a moment as hands grabbed him from behind, pulling him away. And then Wes was running toward them, blaster blazing, stunning the animal, turning to fire at the pack following him, slowing them just enough.
He was being lifted again, his arms pulled over two sets of shoulders, arms supporting him as they half-carried, half-dragged him away. The world went dark as they stumbled into a small cave, then through an opening into a larger space, dimly lit by sunlight filtering through an unseen opening, the only sound now their footsteps and ragged breathing.
As they set him down, he saw Wes following, saw him stop, bend with his hands braced on his knees, his trembling visible even through the suit. As his eyes adjusted he got his first clear look at his rescuers. Two men, one tall, in his mid thirties, the other average height and five or ten years younger, both dark-haired.
"We should be safe here. I don't think they'll come into the cave," the taller man said.
"Who… who the hell are you?" Eric gasped.
"My name's Tony Newman," the shorter one said. "This is Doug Phillips. Did you come here to help us?"
TBC...
